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So after some headaches the first week my marine tank is up and running - live sand, live rock, cleaning crew, cleaner shrimp and two false perculas. I'm not sure where I'm headed next in terms of stocking. But there's a couple other small issues I'm wondering about. After all the work (and...

Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are all 0. Nitrate might be a tick higher but negiligble. pH is 8.0. What is drip acclimate? I've never heard of that before. My smails/crabs were much more active today, so I'm not worried about that anymore. How will I know I'm ready for live stock? Am I...

Another thought for when I return to the fish store: Do I need a powerhead? Right now I have a Aqueon Power Filter. It seems to churn the water pretty well. I've never had a powerhead before, though, so I wouldn't really know if I need one or not.

Great. thanks. I will see how they are tomorrow.

To acclimate, I dipped the bag from the store in for 20 minutes. Cut the top, poured out half the water. Added water from my tank. Let it sit for about a half hour. Then placed them into the tank. They were pretty active at first but not much since then. Maybe I should have taken it slower...

Thanks woody. I seem to have encountered a problem guys. The snails and crabs I got seem to be staying in one place pretty much - at least the ones I can see. The rest seem to be hiding. One of the snails is sitting on my substrate swirling a small shell around on its belly and has been...

1) I posted a couple days ago about my conditions of my live rock, cycle, etc. for my 36 gallon tank. Well everything is settled with those issues, so I went back to the fish store yesterday to get my cleaning crew. I came back with some 6 hermit crabs and 4 snails. That's what the worker...

Thanks guys. Now I get it. I will monitor the parameters closely for a few days and then let you know!

Thanks for the responses guys. I understand well how a cycle works... starting a freshwater tank from scratch at least. What I'm confused about is dropping the live rock in and then knowing whether there's a mini cycle taking place, a full cycle, etc. Right now, my ammonia, nitrites...

I have a 36 gallon tank that I'm converting to saltwater (first time). I had an in depth discussion about what I'll need with the owner of the local fish store (top quality place). He suggested starting off with live sand, 15-20 pounds of live rock and some lace rock, which will eventually...

I have a 36 gallon tank with 1 roseline shark, 1 gold gourami, 5 neon tetras and 3 gold tetras. I recently saw pictus catfish at my local fish store and love them. Would they be compatible in my tank? Would they outgrow it? WOuld they eat my tetras?

For whatever reason, I have been having trouble with my fishless cycle. Things got going but when the ammonia filters out it goes sooooo slowly (2-3 days for 2 ppm to go back to zero even a month after I started). Clearly something isn't quite right. I'm going to start over... but what is...

I'm well past that point and it's still filtering ammonia out slowly. I did a 90% water change yesterday and added two drops of ammonia. Still hasn't been filtered out. I'm thinking of just starting all over again. How would I do that, though? Would just cleaning out the filter and dosing...

This morning I put in just a few drops and now, 8 hours later, I still have a slight ammonia reading, so something definitely isn't working with this filter. Should I just start over? I really don't want to, but I'm kind of at a loss for what to do.

For the most part my doses have been in the 2 to 4 ppm range.

Every cycle I've done in the past, the ammonia stays high and then drops quickly not gradually like this.

Ive been fishless cycling for a few weeks now. I added some Tetra SafeStart about a week ago, which has worked well for me in the past. The ammonia dropped, but when I add more, it gets filtered out very slowly. Maybe 2ppm over 2-3 days. I believe I read here once that a functioning filter...

Ammonia was back up to 1 ppm today. Did another 75% water change. While I did that, I stripped the tank and looked for the two dead fish but had no luck. How long will I have to do these water changes for before the ammonia stops spiking? Also, can ammonia neutralizer help? Or does that...

I've had quite a situation with my 36 gallon tank for the last couple days. I've lost four fish in the last few days. Two I found and disposed of. Two I did not find. I finally got a chance to test today to see what in the world is going on and found that my pH had dropped to about 6.0 and...

So I've got my 10 gallon tank restarted. I added a 3d background with perfectly clean sand and some lava rock. Nothing crazy, but it's simple and I love the way it looks so far. The tough part now is deciding what I want to put in it. I have tetras, mollies, rasboras, gouramis, etc in...

I am in the process of restarting my 10 gallon tank with a nice fancy 3D background and all. As I do this, I want to use some nice clean sand for substrate. But last time I did that it always got so dirty so fast. I had some neon tetras in the tank and no matter how little I fed them, the...

I got an Aqua Terra 3D background for my 10 gallon tank. I plan on putting it in in the next few weeks. Here's the tough part. Will it be okay to put the background right in front of my filter, heater and all that other plumbing to make sure it can no longer be seen hanging in the back of the...

The shell dwellers sounds like a good idea. I've never had them before. Don't think I've ever seen them at LFS, though. Do you think I'd have to buy online?

I have an empty 10 gallon tank I'm considering setting up. Right now, I have a 36 gallon community tank and if I set up the 10 gallon, I want to do something a little different and more "exotic" than just another tank of tetras and gouramis. I know I'm kind of limited with a 10 gallon tank...

I have a 10 gallon tank with some neon tetras in it. I have a bunch of tannin in the water due to some driftwood. I've been told activated carbon can sometimes get rid of the color. So I went out and bought some. Here's the thing... how do I use it? Do I just put some in a sock and stuff it...

Ok so in my 36 gallon tank, I have some rasbora, a gourami, a rose line shark and an Electric Blue Jack Dempsey. I got the JD on an impulse when the guy at the store told me he'd be fine in a 36 gallon tank. Not so. I tried, but after a couple months now, he's just too nippy with the other...

Ok thanks. So here's a thought... suppose I always make sure to keep the Jack Dempsey in with only fish that are too big to fit in his mouth? Wouldn't that keep things safe for everyone?

A couple months ago, I bought an electric blue Jack Dempsey to go in my community tank. I know -- it was a bad idea. It was an impulse purchase when the guy at the store told me EB Jack Dempseys are usually pretty peaceful. So I've been trying it out ever since then and there have been no...

A couple weeks ago I switched my 10 gallon tank with a betta to sand bottom and a peice of Mopani wood from the LFS. Ever since then, the water has had an orange tint to it that won't go away. I've changed water three times. And every time for a couple days, it looks nice and clear and then...

A few days ago I switched my 10 gallon tank with a betta in it to sand instead of gravel. I always wanted to try it and I loved the way it looks. A few days later and I'm already running into a problem.... the beautiful white sand gets covered with left over food and other junk, which ruins...

I brought home two new gold gouramis yesterday. I noticed today that one of them have a little white spot/bump on it. It almost looks exactly like a white head pimple with a little pinkish area around it. Very small. No other signs or symptoms worth pointing out. What do I do now? Is this...

Well, I went to back to the store last night and talked to the owner who sold me the fish. He reassured me that he's been doing this for 48 years and everything will be fine. He said the fish is probably still in shock/stress from the move and isn't eating. He said in a week if he's still...

Store credit is a great idea... there's always plenty of stuff I can get.

Anybody have any experience returning fish? Anything like that? What would you suggest I do?

So I have a 36 gallon tank... 6 rasboras, 4 platys, 2 rose line sharks. I wanted to add a couple "nicer" fish to the tank. I go to the fish store today... very good reputation. I decide to get two gold gouramis and I see in the tank next to it a Electric Blue Jack Dempsey, about two inches...

Water stats are all good. I checked yesteday. It's a 10 gallon tank. He's in there with another tetra and a male betta or at least he was until I quarantined him. (I know, I know neons need to be in large groups. They're my survivors from a previous tank a long time back. I was actually...

In one of my tanks, I have a neon tetra whose developed a spot/sore on his side. It's a reddish/brown circle and looks just like a scab almost. He doesn't seem to be eating much either. I first noticed it after I had to take the fish out of the tank temporarily to do some maintenance. I'm hoping...

One question for each of my tanks. 1) In one of my tanks, I have a neon tetra whose developed a spot/sore on his side. It's a reddish/brown circle and looks just like a scab almost. He doesn't seem to be eating much either. I first noticed it after I had to take the fish out of the tank...

I don't think I can do that since I used filter cartridges. I don't know much about taking them apart and cutting, etc. I can actually shove a new filter cartridge in behind the current one. If I did that and left the new one in for a couple weeks, do you think I could then remove the old one?